The Best Warehouse Management Software
Warehouse management systems (WMS) help maintain inventory and coordinate actions throughout your warehouse or distribution center. We tested and reviewed various systems for different operations, from high-volume fulfillment centers to 3PLs and general distributors.
- Integrates with WooCommerce, Amazin, Shopify, eBay, Walmart, and more
- Offers two-day and overnight delivery options
- Provides automatic notifications for stock replenishment and allows setting of reorder points
- Competitive pricing; does not require a subscription
- Integrates with QuickBooks
- Can function as a light MRP system
- Offers various picking methods such as wave and zone picking
- Integrates with over 240 eCommerce, shipping, and accounting platforms
- Allows for real-time feedback on worker performance
We ranked these systems based on their support for different sectors, including general distributors, eCommerce,food distribution, direct-to-consumer brands, and 3PLs. We compared the best industry fit and pricing for each platform:
| Software | Best For | Deployment Options | Subscription Pricing per Month |
|---|---|---|---|
| ShipHero | General Distributors | Cloud or On-Premise | $1,995/month |
| Fishbowl Inventory | eCommerce | Cloud or On-Premise | $150-$200/user/month for cloud WMS |
| Logiwa | Direct-to-Consumer Brands | Cloud | N/A |
| Northstar WMS | Food Distribution | Cloud or On-Premise | $500+/month |
| Körber | Omnichannel Retailers | Cloud | N/A |
| Blue Yonder Luminate | Complex and Large Scale Operations | Cloud | N/A |
| Da Vinci WMS | Cartonization | Cloud or On-Premise | N/A |
| 3PL Warehouse Manager | 3PLs | Cloud | $599/month |
| Infoplus WMS | Seasonal or High Volume Fulfillment Centers | Cloud | $495/month |
- ShipHero: Best for General Distributors
- Fishbowl Inventory: Best for eCommerce
- Logiwa: Best for Direct-to-Consumer Brands
- NorthStar WMS: Best for Food Distribution
- Körber: Best for Omnichannel Retailers
- Blue Yonder Luminate: Best for Complex Warehouse Operations
- Da Vinci WMS: Best for Cartonization
- 3PL Warehouse Manager: Best for 3PLs
- Infoplus WMS: Best for High-Volume Fulfillment
ShipHero - Best for General Distributors
When you often handle a wide range of products from multiple suppliers, you’ll need to have efficient tracking and replenishment. ShipHero’s mobile replenishment app can help you improve your operations by providing quick adjustments and visibility across various stock items. This tool lets your team access real-time inventory levels directly from their mobile devices, ensuring they have up-to-date information on stock levels, which can help prevent stockouts or overstock situations.
The app’s dashboard will provide an overview of low-stock items, items requiring replenishment, and outstanding tasks. Users can view and manage the assigned replenishment tasks in the app, prioritizing certain tasks based on their urgency or any specific criteria you set. This ensures your team focuses on the most critical activities; ShipHero’s mobile replenishment app further enhances operations for general distributors:
- Detailed Tracking: Monitor all stock movements, including the employees involved, time, and quantities moved for more transparency.
- Flexible Replenishment Options: Replenish one product from overstock to a pickable shelf or group multiple items onto a pallet for efficient stock management.
This mobile replenishment tool streamlines inventory management by reducing manual steps, which decreases the risk of common errors like miscounts, misplaced items, or missed replenishment alerts. It can also be highly beneficial if you have large or complex warehouses, as the tool helps maintain continuous workflow by minimizing downtime and ensuring that products are available for order fulfillment. This leads to improved accuracy, faster processing, and enhanced productivity in distribution operations.
For more information on ShipHero, read the full review.
Fishbowl Inventory - Best for eCommerce
Fishbowl’s order management and fulfillment functionality can help you streamline your order processing workflow. This tool makes it easier to handle a high volume of orders from various sales channels, whether you’re selling through your website, point-of-sale systems, or marketplaces like Amazon.
With Fishbowl, you can create and manage sales and purchase orders directly within the system. This allows for easy tracking and management of customer orders from multiple platforms. By consolidating order information, you can quickly access essential data and reduce the likelihood of errors. This is vital to maintaining customer satisfaction and building brand loyalty.
The order management feature gives you a complete view of sales order statuses, allowing you to track orders through various stages, such as quoting, picking, packing, and shipping. This visibility lets you respond promptly to inquiries and ensures that customers receive timely updates on their orders.
The software also supports efficient picking and packing processes, enabling you to gather items for shipping quickly. You can also create picking lists to optimize the picking route within the warehouse, reducing overall travel time and improving order fulfillment speed. With Fishbowl, you can generate shipping labels and track shipments directly within the order management system. It integrates with shipping carriers like UPS and FedEx, allowing real-time order updates and minimizing shipping errors.
For more information on Fishbowl, read the full review.
Logiwa - Best for Direct-to-Consumer Brands
Logiwa’s automated order routing can streamline warehouse operations by utilizing predefined rules to route orders based on inventory availability, warehouse locations, order types, shipping methods, and customer preferences. This eliminates the need to check inventory manually across multiple locations or find the best shipping carrier.
The system intelligently routes orders to the most appropriate warehouse based on various features, such as:
- Inventory location: Goes to the warehouse with the most stock.
- Proximity to customer: Routes to the nearest warehouse to minimize shipping times.
- Carrier costs: Selects the most cost-effective shipping option while still meeting delivery expectations
- Shipping Preferences: Chooses a warehouse that offers specific shipping methods like overnight delivery.
The system will also prioritize orders based on criteria like order size, customer loyalty, or time sensitivity, enabling you to meet deadlines and customer expectations. It also has direct integrations with shipping carriers like UPS and FedEx, allowing the system to automatically choose the best carrier based on speed, cost, and service.
However, while Logiwa integrates with numerous popular eCommerce platforms and shipping carriers, some users have reported having challenges with less common or custom systems, which may require additional development or third-party assistance.
For more information on Logiwa, read the full review.
NorthStar WMS - Best for Food Distribution
NorthStar WMS’ allergen control feature maintains a detailed database of items, such as nuts, gluten, dairy, and shellfish. It will monitor products that contain these specific allergens throughout the supply chain, providing real-time tracking for better compliance with food safety regulations like HACCP and FSMA.
As your staff receives shipments, they’ll input details into NorthStar’s system. The software will alert warehousing staff that specific items contain allergens, allowing your team to move these products to a designated storage location to prevent cross-contamination.
The system will then integrate the information with inventory tracking, automatically updating stock levels and allergen status as products move throughout the warehouse. When picking orders for a large chain, the system alerts you if both allergen-free and allergen-containing products are included. This allows you to adjust the picking list to ensure that allergen-free products are packed and labeled separately to avoid incidents. After processing the order, the system automatically generates labels with the relevant information.
This allergen control feature can enhance food safety and compliance while meticulously managing risks, building trust with your clients. Prices for NorthStar WMS start at $500/month, but depending on the number of users and features your company needs, they can increase up to $5,000/month.
For more information on Northstar WMS, read the full review.
Körber - Best for Omnichannel Retailers
Körber WMS offers a last-mile delivery solution that streamlines the final step of the delivery process to ensure that your customers receive their orders quickly and efficiently. This feature can help you monitor your shipments in real time, providing visibility into the delivery status and if a package will run into any potential delays.
When an order is placed, the system automatically processes it and selects the best delivery method based on predefined criteria like cost, speed, and carrier availability. The system then creates a shipping label, schedules a pickup, and sends the necessary details to the customer. This lets your customers track real-time shipments and inform them of an estimated delivery time.
With the rise of eCommerce, customers expect fast and affordable shipping. Optimized last-mile delivery solutions can reduce shipping costs by improving route planning, consolidating deliveries, and minimizing the number of failed deliveries. It also allows you to provide faster delivery times to your customers, which can be a differentiating factor against other retailers.
For more information on Körber, read the full review.
Blue Yonder Luminate - Best for Complex Warehouse Operations
Blue Yonder Luminate’s multi-echelon inventory optimization (MEIO) helps manage inventory across various supply chain levels. MEIO works by considering the supply chain a network of interconnected echelons, which are levels in the supply chain where inventory is held and managed. The system gathers data on each echelon to comprehensively view inventory flows, demand variability, and supply capacities. The software then uses AI-driven analytics to determine optimal stock levels at each point in the supply chain. The machine learning algorithms analyze historical sales data, seasonal trends, and other influencing factors to predict future demand more accurately.
This can benefit large organizations with multiple distribution centers or companies that deal with fluctuating demand patterns, seasonal variations, and a complex assortment of products. For example, if you expect a surge in demand for a seasonal product like holiday giftware, the MEIO system will likely recommend prepositioning stock at the nearest distribution center. Meanwhile, it can maintain leaner inventory levels at locations with fewer sales, optimizing your overall inventory costs.
For more information on Blue Yonder, read the full review.
Da Vinci WMS - Best for Cartonization
Da Vinci WMS has an impressive cartonization feature specifically designed to optimize the packing process by determining the most efficient way to pack products into cartons. This tool can enhance packing accuracy, lower shipping costs, and improve overall efficiency.
When the system receives an order, it pulls data for the items to be packed, including the items’ dimensions, weight, and any specific handling instructions. The software analyzes the order data and selects the best carton size from its database, ensuring optimal use of space while adhering to weight limits.
Moreover, cartonization improves packing accuracy. The system details instructions on how to arrange items within the carton. This could include recommendations on padding and securing the items to prevent damage during transit. From there, the system will automatically create a shipping label and any necessary documentation. As the cartons are packed, inventory levels update in real time, allowing you to maintain accurate stock levels, prevent stockouts or overstocking, and reduce discrepancies.
For more information on Da Vinci WMS, read the full review.
3PL Warehouse Manager - Best for 3PLs
3PL Warehouse Manager’s volume batch processing feature streamlines managing high volumes of orders through the Smart Parcek system and ShipEngine, reducing processing times for faster fulfillment.
The volume batch processing feature allows you to create batches based on incoming orders and define specific criteria, such as order volume or shipping dates, to determine which to include in a batch. This customization enables you to efficiently allocate resources and manage your workflow according to current demands.
Once a batch is created, you can assign tasks to your staff, like picking items, packing them into boxes, or preparing them for shipment. This approach allows one team to pick while the other team packs, maximizing workforce utilization and reducing downtime.
After a batch is completed, the system can provide a detailed report on the time taken for each processing phase. This data allows you to analyze operational efficiency, identify bottlenecks, and adjust future batch strategies accordingly. You can continuously optimize your processes to enhance productivity, reduce costs, and improve overall customer satisfaction.
For more information on 3PL Warehouse Manager, read the full review.
Infoplus WMS - Best for High-Volume Fulfillment
The holiday season can introduce significant inefficiencies in warehouse operations, from excessive and delayed travel time to disorganized workflows. These challenges can complicate order fulfillment and impact customer satisfaction. To help navigate seasonal surges, Infoplus created a wave planning feature that can effectively manage seasonal surges in order volume, streamline operations, and enhance overall efficiency.
When orders are received, the system analyzes them based on various parameters, such as size, destination, and priority. The wave planning feature will then create waves that group the orders together, such as a wave for express shipping or one for electronics. This can help you easily allocate resources and staff, ensuring that high-priority orders are processed quickly.
Once they’re grouped, your staff will receive picking instructions for each wave, detailing the best route and the items to pick. As the pickers fulfill orders, the system tracks progress in real-time, allowing you to monitor wave completion and make any necessary adjustments. This helps you respond quickly to challenges, maintaining workflow efficiency during busy periods.
After wave completion, the system generates performance reports, offering insights into picking speed, accuracy, and areas for improvement. These reports are essential for evaluating your team’s performance, identifying training needs, and implementing strategies for continuous improvement.
What is Warehouse Management Software?
Warehouse management systems (WMS) software is a digital solution that optimizes warehouse and distribution center operations, including inventory management, order processing, and logistics coordination.
To ensure an efficient supply chain, companies must implement WMS for effective product distribution and fulfillment. The software automates operations like logging stock, receiving, storing, picking, packing, shipping, and reporting. By streamlining these activities, WMS helps control costs and ensures timely deliveries at the lowest possible price.
Key Features and Benefits
- Increased Inventory Accuracy: Track real-time inventory levels, locations, and movements, to ensure that counts are accurate and minimize stockouts or overstocks.
- Improved Efficiency: Streamline warehouse processes like picking, packing, and shipping to reduce time spent on tasks. Having these automated workflows can improve employee productivity and reduce operational costs.
- Better Space Utilization: Optimize warehouse space and storage by using tools like slotting. This can help maximize the available space and make it easier to access high-demand items.
- Enhanced Order Fulfillment: Improve your order fulfillment process by ensuring that orders are picked, packed, and shipped quickly and correctly. This can lead to faster delivery times and increased customer satisfaction.
- Cost Reduction: Minimizes errors and optimizes warehouse operations to reduce operating costs significantly. Efficient inventory management can also reduce excess stock and holding costs.
How Do I Choose a WMS?
Choosing the right WMS software for your warehouse depends on the size and structure of your warehouse operations. It’s important to fully understand your warehousing and supply chain management needs to determine the correct solution:
- Startups and small businesses can benefit from web-based WMS software that centralizes warehouse tasks within a broader supply chain solution. For growing businesses, cloud-based platforms provide the flexibility to customize the experience as needed.
- Medium-sized businesses often outgrow manual or simple warehouse processes, requiring standalone WMS software that can better assist and provide additional flexibility to track inventory and ship goods with greater accuracy.
- Large warehouses deal with complex tracking requirements like serial numbers and the need for retail compliance laboring. When a warehouse also uses transportation management software (TMS) or legacy solutions, it is important to choose WMS software that fully integrates with existing operations set by a 3PL warehouse manager or enterprise resource management tools.
With the right WMS software, a warehouse can improve operational efficiency, resulting in better delivery times and customer satisfaction. If there are budgetary concerns, remember many of these management features can be included as part of fully integrated distribution software or supply chain management systems. Additionally, standalone 3PL software solutions can integrate with management systems for third-party warehouses, which are not directly controlled by your company but still impact your supply chain.
Challenges
The top challenges warehouse managers want the software to address include:
- Integration with an existing logistics operation: Depending on the scale of the operation, a new WMS may need to integrate with your current transportation management system or order fulfillment tools.
- Ease of use: Because WMS software can offer complex functionality, it’s important that solutions offer users clear, easy-to-understand interfaces. Systems that workers can adapt to are crucial to maximizing overall efficiency.
- Improved order picking methods: Plenty of order picking methods are available to optimize your inventory picking methods, such as discrete, batch, zone, wave, and hybrid.
Pricing
Software prices can vary based on several factors, including the deployment method (on-premise versus cloud-based), number of users, level of support included, and any additional services provided by the vendor. Some systems, like Da Vinci WMS, start at $100/month, whereas others, like ShipHero, can cost $1,995/month.
- ShipHero: $1,995/month. It can be deployed on cloud or on-premise.
- Fishbowl Inventory: $150-$200/user/month for the cloud. It can also be deployed on-premise.
- Logiwa: Contact a sales representative for custom pricing.
- NorthStar WMS: $500-$5,000/month. It can be deployed on the cloud or on-premise.
- Korber: Contact a sales representative for custom pricing.
- Blue Yonder Luminate: Contact a sales representative for custom pricing.
- Da Vinci WMS: $100/month. It can be deployed on the cloud or on-premise.
- 3PL Warehouse Manager: $599/month on the cloud.
- Infoplus WMS: $495/month on the cloud.
